Kaupthing

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Vincent Tchenguiz has launched a claim for £2.2bn in damages against accountants Grant Thornton and the estate of the failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing in connection with the collapse of a Serious Fraud Office investigation that was heavily criticised over a dawn raid it made on the property developer.

Icelandic banker Sigurdur "Siggi" Einarsson, who ran Kaupthing bank from offices in Mayfair until its collapse five years ago, is among nine former senior staff who have been variously charged in Reykjavik with orchestrating five large-scale market manipulation conspiracies.

The director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has told a committee of MPs he accepts his agency will be judged largely on the performance of its ongoing investigation into allegations of Libor interest rate-fixing.

Shortly after dinner on 5 October 2008, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to Iceland's prime minister, Geir Haarde, in a frantic phone call. The world was in the grip of the most serious banking crises in living memory. Within 48 hours Iceland would experience a system-wide banking meltdown and British taxpayers would commit £500bn of bailout funds to help UK banks avoid a similar fate.

The Serious Fraud Office has abandoned its investigation into Mayfair property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz 15 months after investigators raided his home and offices using a flawed search warrant as part of the SFO's biggest probe in almost a decade.